TechCrunch calls Naveen Jain’s Intelius a scam

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington doesn’t pull any punches in a post on Intelius, saying the Bellevue company led by Internet entrepreneur Naveen Jain is actively participating in an online scam.

Arrington writes:

Given Jain’s history, you’d think he’d go out of his way to be squeaky clean at his most recent startup, particularly as the company is going public and under significant scrutiny. But that may not be the case.

Intelius has been on the receiving end of hundreds of consumer complaints alleging fraud, many of which are around a partnership the company has with Adaptive Marketing and a “product” they offer called Privacy Matters Identity.

Interestingly, Jain’s son, Ankur, follows up with a note to Arrington calling his reporting “misleading” and “naive.”

Ankur Jain writes:

To call this a scam on Intelius, you would have to consider a series of other large companies including VistaPrint, Buy.com, Transunion scams as well [they all provide similar offers after checkout]. And frankly none of these companies are scammers whatsoever. Further, Intelius has one of the strongest business models I have come across with one of the most passionate set of leaders in the online industry.